tonight on "nightline," tycoon on the run. our team travels to guatemala to track down american software mogul john mcafee for an explosive interview. >> they shot the wrong man. they were trying to shoot me. >> a bizarre tale of money, drugs and murder in paradise. and tonight, the surprise twist we didn't see coming. and, the coal miner's daughter. and the reigning queen of country is now inspiring the next generation of stars. we go on the town with loretta lynn as she talks music and her marriage secrets. plus, on the trail with the big cat wrangler, on a dangerous mission to capture the rare and

illusive snow leopard. in one very unlikely place. the mountains of afghanistan. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," december 5th, 2012. >> and good evening, i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin with breaking news in the increasingly strange case of american software multimillionaire john mcafee. wanted for questioning in the central american country of belize for his neighbor's mysterious murder. tonight, in guatemala, he was arrested for entering the country illegally. the same place where earl-year-old today, our team tracked him down for this exclusive interview. here's abc's matt gutman from g guatemala city. >> reporter: it is the latest in the bizarre tale of john mcafee. the software tycoon who's been on the lam for three weeks in a cat and mouse game with

authorities in belize. tonight, mcafee was arrested by immigration authorities in guatemala's capital. how have you been? >> really good since i got here. >> reporter: just hours earlier, he sat down with abc news, showing that a man known for packing a pistol was unarm and insisting he did not murder greg faull. who do you think killed greg? >> how would i know? how would i know? >> reporter: our search began mcafee began three weeks ago, to his home. he went looking for mcafee at his compound. hello? anybody home? finding only a guard. have you heard from mr. mcafee? >> no. >> reporter: no. then, he found us. calling my phone. >> if i were a mad man, how could i judge? >> reporter: hi, john, how are you? then, back in the u.s., we heard from him again. >> thank god, i'm in a place where there's some sanity. >> reporter: and finally, today, in guatemala city, a much calmer

mcafee. you did not nor did any of your associates shoot him? >> for what reason? how stupid would it be? >> reporter: why don't you go to the police, talk to them, hash this all out? >> if only one-tenth of what i'm saying is true, i'm going to go in with a lawyer, things are going to be polite, they're going to say, ah, we're going to have to detain you. do you think the system of justice works in belize like it does in america? it does not. >> reporter: since his glory days in the '80s and '90s, pioneering that anti-virus sopt ware that still pops up on millions of computers, muck afee's journey has twisted and turned. in 2009, he lick by dated his assets, telling "nightline" -- >> it's been reported you are worth $100 million. >> that may have been true. >> reporter: then, he moved to belize and bought this seaside compound. but the skies darkened for him, he said, when he refused to

bribe the government. he started a company that turned jungle plants into med sun, but he says, his failure to bribe brought on a raid on his lab last may, on suspicion he was manufacturing meth. he was never charged. then, last month, just a day after four of his dogs were poisoned, his neighbor, faull, was found shot in the head. weeks earlier, say officials, this petition, obtained by abc news, complaining of mcafee's shotgun slinging security guards and his vicious dogs. >> he loved dogs. he couldn't hurt or harm anyone's dogs. we didn't get along. he drank too much. he did not have a bad heart. he could not have poisoned dogs. >> reporter: his antics have left many questioning his sanity. paranoid? >> i don't think so. why do they keep -- i think you or someone were there when they were searching. if they're not after me, then we have a mass hallucination and we

should all commit ourselves. >> reporter: to avoid that man hunt, he hid. what's been the hardest part? >> not seeing the sun a lot. when we were inside, can't go outside. >> reporter: he also says he disguised himself. >> i had a cane. i was walking like this and i had my jaws stuffed with toilet paper. i changed my hair, i've dyed it black, chopped it off. >> reporter: being on the run has taken its toll. he's gaunt and bleery eyed compared to this picture of him toting a shotgun. for years, he filled his compound with guns, body guards and women. but he insists that his countless postings about using bath salts was just a prank. >> why on earth would i want to buy bath salts when i live in a country where everyone is in cocaine. that's a good drug. i could get heroin in i want it. >> reporter: and even sitting right in front of you, he

remains illusive, shifting, fidgeting. a moving target. >> you have created a dream. which really is a nightmare. it's yours, not mine. i've used this as a spring board. >> reporter: because his story and journey are so unusual and the murder of an american in an island paradise remains unsolved. i'm matt gutman for "nightline" in guatemala city. >> what a story. our thanks to matt gutman. next up, from the coal miner's daughter, to rocking out with jack white. loretta lynn talks love, marriage and music, next. ...so as you can see, geico's customer satisfaction is at 97%. mmmm tasty. and cut! very good. people are always asking me how we make these geico adverts. so we're taking you behind the scenes. this coffee cup, for example, is computer animated. it's not real. geico's customer satisfaction is quite real though.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with cynthia mcfadden. >> she just celebrated 50 years of performing at the famed grand of opry. and country legend loretta lynn is still inspiring a new generation, thanks to a collaboration with rocker jack white. the coal miner's daughter is now reaching a hip audience with songs like "portland, oregon." in fact, the only thing more timeless in her music may be the wisdom she dished out to abc's sharyn alfonsi when they went "on the town."

♪ well portland, oregon ♪ if that you ain't love >> reporter: she's had 52 hits, 60 number one songs. at 80 years old, loretta lynn is country royalty. ♪ i lost my mind in oregon >> reporter: and she is still on the road. what is it that you like about performing still? i mean, couldn't you just -- >> if i couldn't sing, i wouldn't go. >> reporter: don't let the frilly gowns fool you. loretta lynn is every bit the rebel. pushing the boundaries of country for decades, writing rated x about the double standards women faced. ♪ you can't have a male friend ♪ when you're a has been ♪ or a woman you're rated x >> reporter: and writing "the pill" about birth control. ♪ making up for all those years ♪ ♪ yes i've got the pill >> reporter: you wrote about the pill. you wrote about war. people said you're a feminist. are you a feminist?

>> i think so a certain point. i wrote them because that was what was on my mind at the time. >> reporter: when she released those songs, country music stations refused to play them. but loretta pushed forward to become the first lady of country music. we visited her at her tennessee compound to discuss that journey. >> this was my first furniture that i bought. i thought maybe we hit the jackpot. >> reporter: a massive estate with its own museum, post office, waterfall and gift shop. a long way from her humble beginnings in butcher hollow, kentucky, one of eight children. do you remember the moment when you realized you could sing? >> you ain't going to believe this, but me and my little first cousin sang all the time and when we were little, daddy would come out on the porch and tell us to shut our big mouths. people all over the holler can hear you. i'd say, daddy, who cares? they're all our accuse sins.

>> reporter: those early years inspiring the academy award winning film "coal miner's daughter." ♪ i was born a coal miner's daughter ♪ >> reporter: at age 15, she married. at 16, she had her first of six children. her husband, nicknamed dew, the man she called the love of her life. >> i do just what i want. don't you hit me. >> reporter: you know, he was violent, he was drinking. he was cheating on you. >> he did that when he got to drinking. i could whip him. if he hit me once, i hit him twice. he knew it, too. >> reporter: but after 50 years of this, why didn't you just divorce him? >> i loved him. >> reporter: and he inspired her. saving up to buy loretta her first guitar. and his antics became fodder for songs like "you ain't woman enough." ♪ you ain't woman enough ♪ to take my man >> reporter: have you ever had to punch a woman? >> uh-huh.

>> reporter: and? >> there's one i'd like to punch more than just punch. >> reporter: still, to this day? >> still, to this day. i get mad when i think about her. let's get off the subject. >> reporter: it's that honesty that drew jack white to loretta. he produced her most recent alb album. ♪ it was much too late for the both of us in oregon ♪ >> reporter: the album would top the country charts and alternative charts, as well. giving loretta two grammies. >> and the grammy goes to -- loretta lynn. >> reporter: and now, at 80 years old, loretta lynn, a great grandmother finds herself getting back on the tour bus. >> this is my bed. i have everything in here i need. and i've got my gowns hanging in here. >> reporter: there are gowns in the shower. >> i take them, pull threat in there. i sing every night. >> reporter: every night? >> every night that i'm on the

road, yeah. >> reporter: and this coal miner's daughter turned music legend isn't going home any time soon. ♪ not much left ♪ nothing lives here anymore ♪ except the memories of a coal miner's daughter ♪ >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm sharyn alfonsi in hurricane mills, tennessee. >> ah, 80 years young. loretta's book is in stores now. and her tour launches early next year. our thanks to sharyn alfonsi. just ahead, what does it take to find a snow leopard in afghanistan? one tracker shows us how it's done. i had enough of feeling embarrassed about my skin. [ designer ] enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin. [ rv guy ] enbrel may not work for everyone --

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well, if you think hunting down a rare, ferocious leopard is dangerous, consider having to do it inside an actual war zone. that's exactly what one brave tracker is doing to help keep the species alive. abc's t.j. winick brings us this daring "into the wild." >> reporter: in the world's most dangerous place, boone smith is on a mission. >> this is a big risk. it's justified to potentially get killed to catch a cat. >> reporter: not just any cat, the world's most illusive big cat. the snow leopard of afghanistan. >> this was my holy grail for animals i wanted to catch. live wire! >> reporter: smith, a fourth generation big cat trapper from

idaho. >> you with me? >> reporter: has been challenged by the wildlife conner is sags society and usaid to capture and collar a snow leopard in 20 years. >> they are mythical. legendary. you can't look at one and appreciate for what it is, the terrain and environment it survives in, you're missing something. >> reporter: they are highly endangered predators, targeted by poachers for their pelts and killed by farmers for attacking their livestock. they're now believed to be between 100 and 200 in afghanistan, so, finding one is not an easy task. especially in a war-torn country, where roves packs of taliban fighters are always a threat. >> so, this would be the volley up here. >> reporter: welcome to the mountainous border region in northeastern afghanistan. this is snow leopard country. among those on boone's experienced team? tracker hussein ali and fellow trapper john goodrich. >> trapping is a game of odds. we're trying to predict the

exact spot. >> reporter: to catch their big cat, they must set a series of snares. >> and now we camouflage the loop and the pit. >> reporter: then, there's the transmitter, which will alert the team when a cat is caught. once it is set, all there is to do is wait. >> there's a signal. beep, beep, beep. >> reporter: it's the middle of the night when the team gets the signal they've been waiting for, just six hours after setting the snare. can you see all right? >> yeah, yeah. >> you see this? >> yeah, yeah. >> okay, so, we want to go very, very slow. >> okay, okay. >> okay, we're not in a hurry. we want to be safe. we want to make sure it's okay. it's exciting. it's exciting -- >> yeah, yeah. >> but we have to be cool. we have to be cool. >> reporter: this is the moment of truth. is it a fox? or could it be the illusive snow leopard? >> it's a snow leopard. >> snow leopard? >> it's a snow leopard. >> let me call it in. shh! shh!

shh! >> hey, we're not there yet. we're not there yet. we have to get it darted first. beautiful. >> reporter: once the cat is hit with a dart, it's a race against time. the team has one hour to complete a full exam and to attach the satellite collar, which will fall off after 13 months of collecting valuable data. >> the opportunity to study one of these creatures is just so extraordinary. every measurement, every observation, it's precious. >> seven on width. >> reporter: the men retreat to a safe distance as the big cat regains consciousness. he's a little wobbly, but he regains his footi ining just in time. >> we've taken some liberties, but we're justifying it because what we're going to gain back. >> reporter: over the next few days, data pours in from the satellite collar. by tracking the leopard's movements, wild life experts have already been one to protect

the farm animals big cats often prey on. >> one of the things we've been able to do with the collared snow leopards we have already is to notify villagers when they are approaching so they can get their livestock in and protect it. >> reporter: with just 2,000 snow leopards believed to be prowling the planet, the cat's own survival is just as big a priority. and in a country where 80% of its inhabitants live off the land, understanding the snow leopard means understanding this volatile ecosystem, one of the keeps to rebuilding afghanistan. for "nightline," i'm t.j. winick in new york. >> gorgeous. "big cat week" begins this sunday, december 9th, with "snow leopard of afghanistan" on nat geo wild. our thanks to t.j. and thank you for watching abc news. "good morning america" will be waiting right here for you in the morning. we're always online at abcnews.com. good night, america. jimmy kimmel r h